Thursday, April 30, 2009

For the latest potluck, I decided to veganise a childhood favourite: tuna patties and I have never been more proud of making something. It was also my first time making something savoury for a potluck so I was doubly proud. I purchased some 'tuna' from vincents which has just the right amount of fishyness although it is quite oily and bright orange. They were a bit time consuming to make but I think it is worth it since it makes so many and tastes exactly as I remember them to be. The only changes that I have made to the recipe is to change the type of cheezly, I used Morrazella which I find really mild whereas I think the cheddar will stand out a little more. I also recommend draining on paper towels which I didn't have so they were quite oily. Anyway here's my recipe:

Mix capscium, onion and carrot in bowl and add the cheezy sauce, it acts almost like a binder. Then add cheezly and tuna and mix again. Roll into balls and then cover in breadcrumbs. Fry both sides for a few minutes until browned. Put on paper towels to drain and then serve.

Makes 30 small patties.

Mini ones for the potluck

Large ones for home. Sorry about the quality of pictures, it's always dark now!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

With all of this rain I have gotten a fair bit of splashing around in them too. It is so great to get to places and not worry about wet socks/tights/feet. The best bit about gumboots is that they are naturally vegan.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Once Mr T's heavy medication started kicking in he would sleep several times a day, instead of resting like a sane person I used those opportunities to make sweets with ingredients we had at home since I am trying not to buy desserts.

First up I made snickerdoodles, yes what a silly name but such awesome cinnamony goodness. I loved the texture of them. The recipe made a a lot too so we could share them, well a couple of them. I felt like I good quite easily eat half a dozen of them in one sitting as opposed to normal cookies. They are ugly though:

Then I followed Cindy's idea for chocolate almond figs, I had to improvise a little as I didn't have figs or dark chocolate. Instead I put an almond in a date and covered it with white chocolate. The almond seemed to be the perfect size for where the pit would normally go and it was yummy but I'm sure her original combo is even better. I don't think white chocolate goes quite as well with dried fruit.

I heart pandan flavoured desserts like the pandan and coconut soft serve soy ice cream they occasionally have at tofu shop and pandan chicken. I was just talking about how I wish I could get some pandan chicken when I found some vegan pandan chicken at our local asian supermarket (the one at Barkley Square).

It lived up to my high expectations, full of flavour, with just the right amount of kick to it. I really love effortless cooking like this!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

And boy am I glad we did as we had lots of leftovers and the very next day Mr T injured himself quite badly. He was at a kung fu class and fell quite hard and now has damage to nerves in both his arms and hands, yes BOTH hands! It means that he has had painful pins and needles non stop for days and can't really use his hands for anything. So I've been feeding him and well doing anything for him, the poor thing can't really do much and is in a lot of pain. Thankfully he is young and fit though so he should heal and it shouldn't a long lasting thing. So it's been soooooooo great to have premade food that I can just pop in the oven for several meals.

Anyway, back to the food itself. We had the intention of doubling the recipe but ended up only doubling the tempeh (which Cindy kind of suggested anyway) and doubled the amount of cashews only but not the rest of the sauce and it was still awesome. You know a recipe is great when you don't even follow it correctly and it still turns out great! I think it is a two person recipe though because it has several parts and takes a little while to make but it is worth it because you end up with quite a lot of yummy meals. I'm not even a big fan of tempeh but this almost makes me a convert!

Now what bulk meal should I make tonight to get us through several more meals?

Monday, April 20, 2009

I normally just eat tartex (vegetarian pate) on crackers or on toast but decided to have a google for recipes and found a page full of recipes. One of the lasiest, easiest and nastiest recipes is the tartex fritters. Basically you get puff pastry make a circle out of it using a glass or whatever and put some tartex in the centre then close up and fry like crazy. It also asked to coat each one in milk but I skipped that step and it didn't seem to matter. I didn't even know you could fry puff pastry but you certainly can. These were awesome!

The only problem was that I only had one sheet of puff pastry left so couldn't make many.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Mr T and I booked and paid for our flights overseas for our trip at the end of the year. We have one little problem though we don't really have spending money so in an attempt to save as much money as we can, we are going to stop eating out, maybe not stop for the whole 6 months but cut down drastically from our usual 3+ times a week.

We lasted this whole weekend without eating out which is normally where we do the most amount of eating out. So far it has been good, we have been making more creative and tasty dishes and I've been pleasantly surprised.

Inspired by the Mexican potluck we made a big batch of chilli on friday night which made 7 serves! We would normally eat the leftovers the next day but for the bonus serves we would put them in the freezer for another time, but we enjoyed it so much that we had it for 3 meals in a row and also fed a friend.

Fry onion, garlic and capscium in vegetable oil until onion is transulecent.

Add beans, corn, tomatoes and water. Bring to boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Add a little more water if needed. Add cumin, and chilli powder to taste. Simmer, stirring occasionaly for 20 minutes. Add liquid smoke and coriander just before serving.

There are a few different varieties of coles brand garlic bread and only one of them appears to vegan. It is cheap and not healthy at all but quite good. I still prefer our handmade sundried tomato garlic bread but for really lazy days this stuff is so great.

Speaking of accidentally vegan items, I really need to update the list here. Also I have made a facebook group: aussie vegan food updates (for both new vegan products and items that are no longer vegan). Feel free to join and spread the word. People can update it and I will send regular update private messages. Also I will need some fellow admin members, so if you feel like you are on top of what is vegan and what is not just let me know.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Long weekend = great company and awesome food

I really enjoyed the long weekend, it allowed me to catch up with friends and bake and eat lots of yummy food and to ride my new bike around. Speaking of bikes Mr T learnt how to ride one thanks to Craig who hasn't started blogging yet but will. Anyway on to the food:

We both made the eggs benedict from how it all vegan and was quite impressed, the egg doesn't taste much like eggs but it was so tasty and I discovered that I heart fake bacon.

Inspired by east brunswick club Mr T fried up some maple bacon, yes maple syrup with fake bacon, just try it! Pictured here with nutmeat which I'm nto a fan of but Mr T loves.

I made the choc chip scones from vegan with a vengeance and served them with soyatoo cream and jam. The cream is awesome, I just need to think of a way to use it up the rest that doesn't require baking.

We made mini carrot cake cupcakes because easter=bunnies= carrots. Thanks for that Marisa! I decorated them with icing flowers which turned out to be way too much work for about 60 mini cupcakes.

Lidia's friend Joe Fox made us waffles which we made waffles sandwiches with. I decided to try all 3 toppings since I couldn't decide: strawberry, chocolate and maple syrup. So so so great!!!!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Wood Spoon

On our most recent recent date night Mr T took us to Wooden Spoon. As we walked down Smith St I was sure that we were going to Wabi sabi salon because I have never heard or paid any attention to Wood spoon before. Mr T had even discussed the place with Cindy who agreed to hold off blogging about it until after the date, thanks Cindy! It's a really cute omni place that has vegan options including DESSERT. We had:

warm sake and seaweed salad

Two types of Onigari: seaweed and sansai (mixed vegtables) Dengaku Don (midly spiced eggplant in miso based sauce with tofu ) and Pumpkin Gnocchi in Coconut Tomato SoupAnd Pumpkin Dando in Coconut Milk which included sweet red beans, It was creamy, sweet and very tasty!

I was impressed, it was well priced, great food and cute decor. Great work Mr T!

Sunday was our 5th year anniversary of being together and to celebrate we went out for breakfast.

We stumbled across tenth muse by accident wandering down brunswick st, It is opposite vegie bar and has large writing on the window which suggested that it specialises in vegan and vegetarian meals.

They had a vegan fried breakfast which we both had. It included scrambled tofu, mushrooms, tomato, spinach, mushrooms and hash browns with Turkish bread. It was tasty except for one small thing: the tofu was bland as it wasn't marinated and served with any sauce.

I however have high hopes for the rest of the vegan menu though like the vegan deli style turkish pide which includes soy cheese, sundried tomatos, vegan smoked slice, red onions, mushroom, olives, mustard and avocado or many of the vegan mains such as the lentil risotto. There is a whole page deciated to veg/vegan meals. It's great to see another omni place with so many vegan options. I can't wait to try out the mains!

Sunday, April 05, 2009

There was paella which isnt technically mexican but was tasty:Also tasty sangria:

Lisa made super important guacamole:

And Tara made garlicky coriander salsa:Rachel made these yummy quesadillas with nacho soy cheese and beans:And gazpacho:

Emily made tortillas and Lidia made this smokey chilli with sausages in it:Craig made spicy but delicious chilli:

Pip and Tim made this beany yummyness:and amazing churros covered in sugar and cinnamon with dark chocolate dipping sauce:Mr T and I made two types of cupcakes: margarita cupcakes wit tequila in them and mexican hot chocolate cupcakes with cayenne pepper. You couldn't really taste the tequilla or the cayenne pepper though. I prefered the mexican hot chocolate ones which we put chocolate mousse on top and sprinkled with cinnamon.

We tracked down coloured sugar to decorate the sides with.Cindy made mexican wedding cookies which had chocolate in them.And Jo made mexican wedding cookies minus the chocolate so they had quite different flavours.Amy and Aaron made raw oatmeal cocao nib cookies that reminded me of truffles and they even brought the recipe to share.

Rebecca made a pinyata filled with all sorts of vegan chocolates and lollies from rishons which we hit with a empty tequila bottle.Kimba even dressed upWhereas the other dogs enjoyed sleeping on me (Dallas kind of blends in with my clothes and the couch though).There were other things that I didn't get pictures of too like polenta chips and two black bean dishes and Michael's mole. I was so full by the end of it! I think themed potlucked are the way to go and am looking forward to the indian one coming up.